WARRINGTON youths took a huge step forward last month as the town’s first youth summit took place.

The Pyramid was filled with young people attending the event which was aimed to create a stronger relationship between the police, Warrington Borough Council and Warrington’s youth.

The evening was set up as a question and answer session.

Sitting on the panel for the council were leader Clr Ian Marks, chief executive Diana Terris and strategic director for children’s services Norma Cadwallader.

Also on the panel were Doug Ryan, co-ordinator of the crime and disorder reduction partnership, Chf Supt Gary Finchett and head of service for the youth offending team, Gary Jones.

Clr Sue Dodd (LD – Stockton Heath) chaired the session.

The youth who attended took part in two training evenings before the summit to increase the confidence of people asking questions and to help them to decide what questions they wanted to ask.

A large range of topics were covered on the night, from the police’s stop and search policy to places for young people to go.

Chf Supt Finchett acknowledged the police had ‘lessons to learn’ from the youth, just as young people were able to gain an understanding of police procedures that often leave them feeling victimised.

The most interesting fact of the evening came from the police panel, and that was that young people were accountable for less than one per cent of crime in Warrington.

It was suggested that the media were to blame for demonising young people, and that the public’s reaction to this was to become over sensitive to the actions of Warrington’s youth.

Statistics show that only three per cent of anti-social behaviour reported to the police end up as a crime.

It was made clear that the police intended to communicate more with the youth, and future summits are planned to discuss transport and things to do in Warrington.

The council gained equally from the meeting where it was mentioned that places for young people to go was a major concern for the youth.